Chinese dissident Xu Bo (徐波) yesterday asked a visiting TSU lawmaker to help arrange a meeting with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) three weeks after beginning an attempt to win political asylum in Taiwan.
While Xu's case is being decided the dissident is stranded at CKS International Airport, sleeping in makeshift quarters at the office of the Aviation Police Bureau.
"I'd like to take this opportunity to say that I'd like to meet with President Chen," Xu told visiting TSU Legislator Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) at a meeting in the bureau's inquiry room yesterday morning.
PHOTO: TONY K. YAO, TAIPEI TIMES
In his meeting with the lawmaker, Xu said he wanted to tell the president face to face how important it was for Taiwan to support the democracy movement in China.
"I feel I have very concrete reasons to persuade him ... And then it'll be helpful to my case," Xu said.
Xu, born in 1961 in the Chinese province of Guizhou, said if the president would not heed his argument he would try and seek political asylum elsewhere.
Xu fled China four years ago after the publication of his book, Red Fascist, which criticized the Beijing authorities. Fearing deportation from South Korea back to China, Xu decided to seek asylum in Taiwan during a transit at CKS international airport on Jan. 27 en route to Bangkok.
Xu's problem is that Taiwan does not legally recognize the right of political asylum. His status is currently that of an illegal immigrant.
Earlier yesterday, the lawmaker gave Xu two books concerning the incumbent president and former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) together with a box of cookies to show his concerns for the asylum seeker.
Xu showed the visiting legislator his temporary home inside the Aviation Police Bureau office -- with his single bed scattered with books and magazines.
Chang Charng-peng (張長鵬), chief of the passport control branch of the Aviation Police Bureau, said his unit had suggested the government relocate Xu to the nearby CKS airport transit hotel to provide him with better accommodation.
Xu also yesterday showed files of Korean newspaper clips reporting his thwarted bid for political asylum at the US and Canadian embassies in Seoul.
Some reports also touched upon the South Korean government's refusal to grant him asylum despite his status as an international refugee recognized by the UN High Commission for Refugee Affairs.
Xu said that he had decided to seek asylum in Taiwan because he had nowhere else to go.
Officials have said they have reservations about Xu's status as a democracy campaigner in China and fear setting a precedent in accepting a self-proclaimed Chinese dissident as the move might have detrimental effects on cross-strait ties.
The lawmaker urged the government to speed up its handling of the issue.
"If the government in private opposes having these Chinese democracy fighters staying in Taiwan to develop their networks, then it should say so clearly," said Chen.
Xu also told the legislator that establishing direct links with China could put Taiwan in a risky situation.
"Once three links are established, communist China will devour Taiwan economically and thus accelerate its move to suppress Taiwan politically," Xu said.
Xu also urged the government to seek a way to limit China-bound capital flow, warning such a trend, if it continued, may turn Taiwan into another Hong Kong, losing all its economic autonomy.
Xu has been identified as the head of the Seoul contact office of the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition, a group led by dissident Wei Jingsheng (魏京生), since March last year.
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